Isaiah 60:22 – A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

Genesis 39:10 – And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

Hello readers, thanks for reading my blog today, and hope this is a blessing to you. A little one shall become a thousand. That sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you like to be that one who becomes a thousand? Do you want this to be you? Do you want to make your life count? Do you want your life to stand for something? Do you want purpose and relevance and meaning for your existence? After Cain killed Abel and refused to repent or get right with God, God told him he would be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. These words refer to a sense of being on the run, wandering, being aimless, having no purpose, nor direction, nor meaning, and definitely not enduring. This is your lot if you reject the word of God, you will live a life a fugitive from God, and a vagabond in the earth. Think of how aimless people are, they live for the right here and right now, because they have nothing beyond death. They have no meaning, they don’t stand for anything that matters or that will last, they, like their very lives, are just a vapor that appears for a time then vanishes away.

We can go back to Genesis today to the story of Joseph to see a man who’s life counted. He was a little one who became a thousand. Joseph was faithful to God. When he could’ve been angry at God, he instead honored God. When nobody would have known otherwise, he obeyed God. When he could’ve felt justified in sinning because of having been sinned against, he chose righteousness. You may wonder… how did he become a thousand? Well, Joseph was the source of salvation for his family, and not just his family, but his nation and many other nations. A big famine came, which the people only survived because of Joseph. Joseph who wouldn’t have been there if he had quit on God, if he hadn’t been faithful when noone knew, when noone was looking, when he didn’t know what God would do with his life. The man that said no to Potiphar’s wife… who would’ve known the vast number of people who were really relying on him being faithful? You never know how important your faithfulness or your decisions of life are. Maybe you’ve chosen to reject God today, and how many other lives may also go to hell because of your lack of repentance and humility, your lack of obedience, your rejection of the blood of Christ. Joseph didn’t know it, but his family and nation were right there with him in Potiphar’s house, right there in the prison. Their future hinged on his faithfulness, his ability to surrender his “right” to bitterness, anger, revenge, his ability to still love and obey God despite his circumstances, despite his raw deal.

A life that counts, a life that has purpose and relevance and meaning is a life that is devoted to God, a life that obeys God. You must be born again. It starts there. If you never get saved, if you never believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you will never become a thousand. If you want to see the opposite of Joseph, you see Samson, a man who was a thousand, but became like any other man.  In Judges 16:17, where Samson gave his heart to Delilah, he told Delilah “… if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” You see, Samson hadn’t been like any other man, he’d been separated unto God, he had the Spirit of the Lord come upon him and he won great victories, he was making a difference, his life was counting for something. But for a woman, Delilah, he surrendered that, and became like any other man. And when he was like any other man, he was defeated by the Philistines, his eyes gouged out and made their prisoner. It’s a sad story, but that’s the fate of many, who become like any other man by choice, they reject Jesus Christ, they turn away from God’s word, and they end up going in circles, as Samson did, grinding corn for the enemy until he repented towards God.

How to make your life count? Obey God. Love him and serve him, even if life is rough, even if things look grim, you never know what a little that’s given to God can produce. Look at what Jesus did with a few loaves and fishes… he fed five thousand! God can take the small pieces of your life and bless them, and turn your life into something you couldn’t conceive. Look at Rahab in Jericho, a nobody harlot, who is in the lineage of Jesus. All because she believed God… it changed her life. And it in fact takes a little one, it takes us realizing that we are nothing… and then God gets the glory. God reduced the number of Gideon’s army repeatedly to make it impossible, so they’d know they only got the victory over Midian because of God, rather than their own might. Joseph could’ve been bitter at God, angry at God, and gone a different direction because God let bad things happen to him. He could’ve slept with Potiphar’s wife, he could’ve lived a life consumed by revenge.  His brothers didn’t realize the same brother they were going to kill and whom they “settled” for selling, it was he who was the difference between them living and dying in the future. It’s a bit like us and Jesus Christ today, we thumb our noses at the word of God, not knowing that one day we will judged by the word of God, not knowing that the grace of God we despise is our scarlet thread between us and destruction. We treat the source of our salvation with such disdain, such contempt, how often do we sell out on Christ?

God said he would hasten it in his time. Isn’t that Joseph’s story? God gave him a dream that his family would come and bow before him. It seemed impossible. It seemed lost. How was his life counting at all as a slave, or when he was rotting in prison? You may be faithful to God now and it seem like it’s not counting… but it is. In his time… and remember God keeps time well. I the Lord will hasten it in his time. God will do it. That’s our salvation story. God starts it, and God finishes it. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith! In 2 Samuel 18:3, they didn’t let David go out to war anymore because they said “thou art worth ten thousand of us”. David’s life counted for something. You as a little one of Jesus Christ have inestimable value in his sight. Your life may be what God uses to alter the lives of many others, whether you know it or not. Maybe like Joseph, other people’s lives are really counting on yours. You never know who is watching your life, depending upon your faith, they may even be people who hate you, who have misused, mistreated you… it is worth it to be faithful to God, and that is a life that will make a true difference. A life of someone who is saved and obeys God is a life of a little one that shall be a thousand. Stay with the word of God, despite the circumstances, despite how it looks, because God will hasten it in his time but in the meantime be faithful as Joseph was, and it might just make the hugest difference in the lives of many others.

Blog Bible Bible Study Christ Christian Disciple Faith God Gospel Holy Spirit Jesus Lord Obedience Saved Truth